What is epidemiological research?
By definition, epidemiology is the study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations (neighborhood, school, city, state, country, global).
How epidemiologists do their research?
Using statistical analysis, epidemiologists study answers to these questions to find out how a particular health problem was introduced. Disease detectives identify new diseases that have never been seen before, such as Legionnaire’s disease and SARS and the organisms that cause them.
What are the purposes of epidemiology?
Epidemiology is the study of how often diseases occur in different groups of people and why. Epidemiological information is used to plan and evaluate strategies to prevent illness and as a guide to the management of patients in whom disease has already developed.
What are the key aspects of epidemiology?
Major areas of epidemiological study include disease causation, transmission, outbreak investigation, disease surveillance, environmental epidemiology, forensic epidemiology, occupational epidemiology, screening, biomonitoring, and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials.
Are epidemiologists doctors?
Are epidemiologists considered medical doctors? No. While epidemiologists study and investigate the causes and sources of diseases in much the same way as medical doctors, they’re not considered actual physicians. Perhaps the biggest reason why is treatment.
Who is the first epidemiologist?
Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences. The Greek physician Hippocrates is known as the father of medicine, and was the first epidemiologist. Hippocrates sought a logic to sickness.
Is an epidemiologist a doctor?
What are the 3 main elements of the definition of epidemiology?
Epidemiology includes assessment of the distribution (including describing demographic characteristics of an affected population), determinants (including a study of possible risk factors), and the application to control health problems (such as closing a restaurant).
What is the difference between epidemiology and biostatistics?
The epidemiology degree focuses on the causes and distribution of diseases and medical conditions. The biostatistics MPH is built on using mathematical and statistical analysis regarding issues in public health and medicine. The biostatistics route is more focused on statistical analysis than the epidemiology path.
What is an example of descriptive epidemiology?
A hypothetical example of a descriptive epidemiological study is the investigation of a group of workers in a factory who have what is suspected to be environmentally acquired lupus.
How does an epidemiologist describe the burden of disease?
Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
What is the benefit of using burden of disease as a health indicator?
It is an important summary measure for health policy and planning because it quantifies the total impact of health conditions on the individual at the population level, in a comparable and consistent way.
Which is the best index for Burden of Disease?
Probably the most well-known assessment of disease burden is the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study carried out by the World Health Organisation. GBD researchers first devised the concept of DALYs.
What is meant by disease burden?
Definition. The term burden of disease generally describes the total, cumulative consequences of a defined disease or a range of harmful diseases with respect to disabilities in a community. These consequences include health, social aspects, and costs to society.
What are the causes of disease burden?
What are the leading causes of burden? The disease groups causing the most burden (DALY) in 2015 were cancer (18% of the total burden), cardiovascular diseases (14%), musculoskeletal conditions (13%), mental & substance use disorders (12%) and injuries (8.5%) (Figure 1).
What is a burden of illness study?
Burden-of-illness studies, also called cost-of-illness studies, are designed to estimate the economic impact of a particular disease on a particular society (usually a nation) in monetary terms.
What is double burden disease?
Double burden of disease simply means the coexistence of communicable and noncommunicable or chronic diseases.
What is triple burden?
Triple burden of malnutrition (TBM) refers to the coexistence of overnutrition, undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies [4, 5]. Overnutrition, undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies equally increase the risk of various health problems [6].
What is triple burden of malnutrition?
Few studies have highlighted the coexistence of the triple burden of malnutrition (TBM) in children, i.e., undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and obesity [19]. Malnutrition in mothers as well as in children is a significant public health challenge in most of the developing countries.
How is Burden of Disease calculated?
Burden of disease measures the impact of living with illness and injury and dying prematurely. The summary measure ‘disability-adjusted life years’ (or DALY) measures the years of healthy life lost from death and illness.